4 Suspects In Target Masters Gun Store Break-In Are 15 To 19 Years Old

A man and three boys were arrested for allegedly forcing their way inside a gun store near police headquarters in Milpitas early Wednesday morning. Jose David Fernandez, 19, of Hayward, two 17-year-old Hayward boys and a 15-year-old Oakland boy were apprehended near Target Masters at 122 Minnis Circle, police Lt. Raj Maharaj said.

At about 1:50 a.m., an on-duty sergeant was about to leave the police station and heard sounds from an activated alarm at the gun store, Maharaj said. The sergeant made his way to the business, where he saw a 17-year-old boy rush to the driver’s seat of a silver 1999 Toyota Camry with a 15-year-old boy inside, according to Maharaj.

The pair fled north on Minnis Circle, but were quickly stopped by another officer and placed into custody without incident, Maharaj said. The sergeant stopped a third suspect, the other 17-year-old boy, who attempted to leave through the store’s front glass doors, according to Maharaj.

The teen was allegedly carrying a firearm that he dropped on the sergeant’s order but he was unable to exit because the doors to the business were locked, Maharaj said. A Milpitas SWAT team and San Jose police K-9 unit were able to unlock the doors and arrest the teen, who allegedly had two handguns taken from the business, Maharaj said.

Authorities searched the business and found no other suspects, Maharaj said.

Officers searched for the fourth suspect, later identified as Fernandez, with help from personnel at the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and San Jose Police Department, Maharaj said. The officers set up a large perimeter and searched for Fernandez south of the business at a city’s Public Works Department corporation yard, Maharaj said.

Fernandez had leaped over a 10-foot wall and ran south near railroad tracks before he was arrested without incident, the spokesman said.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call police at (408) 586-2400. Anonymous tips can made through the police crime tip hotline at (408) 586-2500 or online at http://www.ci.milpitas.ca.gov/government/police/crime_tip.asp.

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--Bay City News/Photo credits: Milpitas PD; Ter L. Yelp image